Ulster Rambles
T
o have been born in the province has been such an honour. Last year I wrote to our great editor Lloyd to explain that I had nothing more to write about. How wrong could I have been. This time around I have so many items to touch on, I do not know where to start. I was watching a great wee program on SBS with Siobhán McSweeney called “Exploring Northern Ireland.” It brought back so many memories as well as touching on a few explorations and personalities that I had missed and of course many that I have written about in this article over the years.
Through the program, I was introduced to one Colin Davidson, an artist, who started to paint Belfast in his teens, and this theme came to the fore in 2004 when his exhibition No Continuing City was mounted at the Tom Caldwell Gallery. The exhibition included large paintings of Belfast as seen from high viewpoints. The urban theme continued between 2006 and 2010 when Davidson made paintings based on the illusionary world seen in city window reflections. Since 2010 Davidson’s work has been concerned with the human face and the resulting large scale head paintings are now recognised internationally. His portraits of Brad Pitt, Michael Longley and Seamus Heaney are held in the collection of the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery in Washington DC, the Ulster Museum in Belfast and the National gallery of Ireland in Dublin respectively. I would like to mention here (as always) that he went to my alma mater: The Methodist College in Belfast.
20 | THE IRISH SCENE
The final name I mentioned was of course a famous poet. Seamus Heaney was born on 13 April 1939, at the family farmhouse called Mossbawn, between Castledawson and Toomebridge. (see map on top of p.22) He was the first of nine children. In 1953, his family moved to Bellaghy, a few miles away, which is now the family home. His father was Patrick Heaney a farmer and cattle dealer, and the eighth child of ten born to James and Sarah Heaney. Patrick was introduced to cattle dealing by his uncles, who raised him after his
